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A 13-year-old girl helped rescuers find her critically injured mother near Buchan in October 2017 after the car the child had just left fell about 50 metres and landed on its roof.

Trinity Bennett and her mother, Shannon, were driving near Buchan, about 350 kilometres east of Melbourne, when Shannon saw a sign for a cave lookout and turned to take a closer look. It had rained in the days before and the road edges were soft. During the U-turn the ground gave way.

"I told Trinity to get out of the car," Shannon said. Still braking, she went over the edge.

Trinity called emergency services and, holding the phone in one hand, scrambled down the incline until she could see the wrecked car below with her mother's feet showing through a window. She stayed on the line describing what she could see so crews could find them.

"It felt like it was an action movie unravelling right in front of me," she said later. "I didn't want to panic. Something in my head was telling me, she's fine. I just felt that mum would still be OK."

Ambulance, police and fire crews and State Emergency Service members were taking part in a training exercise nearby that day, so help reached them quickly. Shannon was flown to a Melbourne hospital with critical injuries including a torn aorta and a broken arm that nearly had to be amputated. She spent a fortnight in hospital and needed 12 months of treatment.

"She saved my life," Shannon said of her daughter. In 2021 Trinity received a Commendation for Brave Conduct, one of 48 Australian Bravery Decorations announced that year.

The recording is Trinity's call to 000, the Australian emergency number, and runs about four and a half minutes.